Will You Smile Again?
by princesspooka
Summary: Effie has to overcome the damage done to her at the hands of the Capitol with the help of a man she may never be able to trust.
1. Chapter 1

Well, it's been a long time and I've missed everyone! I'm writing a new ship, some Haymitch/Effie love, yay! Some forewarning, this story is not light or fluffy. It's rated M for a reason. Disturbing images and behavior, torture and war. There will be happy moments, but not for awhile. The chapters won't be very long but it's flowing better for me that way. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1

No one is coming. No one is coming for me. It will go on and on forever and no one will come.

As Effie Trinket let these thoughts rumble about in her mind, the door to her cell opened. She wondered if she'd get the knife or the shocks today. This new thought made her want to giggle, for they had tried many things to get her to tell her secrets; she still had her secrets and they still had her.

Her mother and sister had been torn apart by some muttation President Snow had wanted tested before the scaly ravenous beasts were released to hunt Katniss Everdeen. She had heard Peeta's screams of constant pain and fear…until they abruptly stopped. Persephone, her pretty little puppy, so sweet and gentle, had been served to her in a stew. Snow was kind enough to inform her of the main ingredient while wearing gloves lined with Persephone's fur, little tufts of white-blonde sticking out of the cuffs.

"Mommy and Sissy were eaten by lizard men."

"I know, sweetheart."

The clunk of a torture kit being deposited on the stainless steel table next to her chair woke her up a bit.

"They're going to eat Katniss, but I don't know where the Girl on Fire is. How will the lizards find her?"

"I don't know. Maybe they'll just sniff her out."

She pondered that as her restraints were double checked by her visitor.

"Hmm. I'm sure you asked Peeta where she was. He wouldn't tell you, so you made him scream. Then you made him stop. My poor strong boy, I'm very proud of him, you know. He was a Victor."

"I know that, I watched both of his Hunger Games."

Effie noticed the preoccupation in his voice and began to panic slightly. It was always worse when he took too much time to choose his instrument.

"Let me go."

"I can't do that, you know that."

"I don't know anything and I would like to go home."

"Effie. We've talked about this. I'm not trying to get information anymore. I just want to make this last as long as possible. I want you to know, deep in your heart, that no one will ever come for you. They left you to rot."

Her eyes filled with tears and her lower lip wobbled. He turned to face her with a long delicate blade in hand.

"I know, Haymitch. No one is coming. No one is coming for me. It will go on and on forever and no one will come."

"That's right, Princess."

As the blade sliced into her skin and her screams echoed around her, Effie Trinket kept repeating one thing to herself:

"I still have my secrets…and they still have me. Oh, God, they still have me."

* * *

Peeta Mellark was still in bad shape, but at least he was coherent. As Haymitch sat by his bedside and tried to get the boy to talk to him, he could feel his frustration leaking into his tone.

"Peeta, I just need you to try and remember anything you can about what President Snow mentioned about the Rebels. We need to know if any of our plans have been compromised."

"Blood and roses, I can still smell his stench. I can still hear the screams and the laughter and the crying."

Haymitch sighed as he stood, knowing he wouldn't get anywhere with the boy today. It sickened him, making Peeta relive the torture Snow had put him through. Looking sadly at him, he turned and started for the door of Peeta's room.

"She always seemed so controlled. That's why it was worse to hear her screams than the others. But then when she laughed…I wanted to tear my ears off. "

Stopping at the door, Haymitch looked quizzically at Peeta. Who the hell was the kid talking about?

"Sometimes she screamed for you. Or was she screaming at you, for you, to stop? "Haymitch! Haymitch, please!" and then she would scream some more and then the laughter would come."

Frozen in his spot he could do nothing but stare at Peeta Mellark in horror. One word escaped his lips in a ragged whisper.

"Who?"

The boy stared at him vacantly as he answered, as if he were actually hearing those awful sounds again.

"Effie. I keep wondering why you didn't save her when you saved me."

Haymitch felt his blood freeze in his veins, his heart stopped and then stuttered back to life. Just as suddenly a white hot rage filled him and he roared as he made his way as quickly as possible to Command. His mind was feverish and Haymitch Abernathy just kept repeating one thing to himself:

"They have my Effie. No, please not Effie."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

She had been alone for a long while. She could tell because she was starting to smell a bit ripe. That meant it had been longer than usual for someone to come and hose her off. The first few times she had been outraged by this treatment. Effie giggled softly. Outraged at being hosed down like an animal, not to mention sliced and diced and forced to watch her mommy and sissy murdered in front of her. She began humming a disjointed lullaby to herself.

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word," here she giggled. She was the little baby! Never saying anything about her secrets, not one word!

"Daddy's going to buy you a mockingbird…"

Effie could hear some rather loud noises coming from outside her little room. Maybe it was bath time? Perhaps President Snow had more puppy soup for her? A loud sobbing laugh escaped her at the thought. She closed her eyes very tightly and tried to remember her lullaby. Hugging her knees she began to sing again.

"And if that mockingbird won't sing," she tried to sing louder. The noises in the hall were making her nervous. There was yelling and someone kept saying her name. Who would do that? No one was coming. No one was coming for her. Pausing in her song to take a deep breath, she continued.

"Daddy's going to buy you a diamond ring," and she jumped at the loud crash her door made against the wall. Her door was open. She stayed huddled on the floor in the corner of her cell. Her mantra began to play in her head. No one is coming. I still have my secrets. No one is coming for me. They still have me. It will go on and on and no one will come.

Harsh and ragged breaths were all she could hear outside of her head, but Effie was too afraid to look. Death would be a lovely thing right now, but if it was one of the pale lizard men, she could do without watching it eat her.

"Effie. Effie!"

Slowly her eyes blinked open.

"Haymitch, what did you bring today?"

He just stared at her in horror. That was odd; he usually always smiled at her. It was to let her know that he liked hurting her because she was a bad girl with secrets and she wouldn't share. As he just continued to stare she grew more fidgety. Just like when he stared too long at his tools, she knew when he stared too long at her, he was deciding where to start. He would make it hurt very much. But then, didn't he always? Another sobbing laugh escaped her lips. Oh, but now she couldn't stop! Crying and laughing, what an awful combination! Haymitch must have thought so as well, he cringed and his voice broke when he spoke to her.

"I'm going to take you home, Princess. Effie? Did you hear me? I came to take you away from here."

Her eyes widened and she abruptly ceased her laughter. Tears still streamed down her face as she looked at Haymitch very seriously.

"Oh, no, Haymitch. You've already played this game with me. Don't you remember? And after the knife stopped and I was crying, you made me repeat it over and over so I would never forget. No one is coming. No one is coming for me. It will go on and on and no one will come."

Effie's dazed mind noticed how pale Haymitch became as she repeated this for him. Panicking, she thought she had remembered it wrong.

"Did I say it wrong? You'll make it hurt more now. I'm sorry, Haymitch! Oh, please, please don't make it hurt more!"

As Haymitch emptied the contents of his stomach, Effie's poor frenzied mind went into survival mode and her vision went dark as she slumped forward unconscious.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Haymitch trembled at the sight before him. Prim and proper Effie Trinket, without a bit of makeup on, no wig perched on top of her head, clothed in rags and covered in scars and fresh wounds, was slumped lifelessly on the floor. And all of this was his fault. He had thought, hoped, that she had made it to safety. He had hoped she'd been able to convince the government she knew nothing. Instead, she'd been tortured and broken and all of it was his fault. Gently, Haymitch leaned down and picked her up, noticed that it was much like picking up a child, and fought the urge to howl in rage. As he stormed down the hallway, soldiers jumping out of his way, he whispered to Effie, maybe deluding himself that somewhere her unconscious mind understood and believed him.

"I'm going to take you away from here and make you better. We'll go somewhere the sun will keep you warm and the birds will sing to you and you'll smile at me and yell at me. No one will hurt you there because I'll never leave you again and you'll be happy. I swear you'll be happy; just…you have to come back. "

He looked down at her pale tear-streaked face. No change, no movement. She was still a dead weight in his arms. He curled his upper body protectively over her as they emerged onto the street. A medic walked up to him and tried to pry Effie from his arms and he snarled at the woman. She stepped back quickly, but looked at him sternly.

"I need to take her so I can help her. She needs immediate medical attention and I promise she'll be well cared for. Please lay her on the stretcher."

It took all of his will for Haymitch to lay her down and let go. As it was, he followed the medic and the stretcher to an exam room once on the hovercraft and waited for what seemed like hours before he heard anything about Effie's condition. He was not relieved when the doctor came out accompanied by Effie's tortured screams before the door slid shut behind him. Haymitch saw the grim look in the doctor's eyes and felt his heart lurch in his chest.


End file.
